Macedonia Conservatives Set to Cement Grip on Power in Snap Poll
Macedonia's ruling conservatives are tipped to cement their grip on power in Sunday's snap election despite a shaky economy and a stalemate in the Balkan country's bid to join the EU.
In tandem with the parliamentary poll, Macedonians will also chose their future president in a run-off between incumbent Gjorge Ivanov of the ruling VMRO-DPMNE and his Social Democrat rival Stevo Pendarovski.
The legislative vote is being held a year ahead of schedule after the VMRO-DPMNE failed to agree with its ethnic Albanian coalition partner the DUI on a joint presidential candidate.
Opinion polls have given a strong lead both to Ivanov and the VMRO-DPMNE, which is credited with 28 percent of the vote against 15 percent for the opposition Social Democrats (SDSM).
The ruling party hopes to increase its tally in parliament to 62 seats out of 123 and enable its leader Nikola Gruevski to secure a third term as prime minister.
In the outgoing assembly, Gruevski's party had just 55 seats, which forced them into a coalition with several minor parties to ensure majority backing in parliament.
"The conservatives estimate that the opposition has neither the means nor the strength to win at this moment and want to ensure four additional years in power," said analyst Aleksandar Damovski.
The state of the economy has been at the heart of the election campaign.
GDP slid 0.4 percent in 2012, but rebounded last year with 3.1 percent growth on the back of fresh construction projects and growing exports and is forecast at three percent this year.
But with an unemployment rate in excess of 28 percent in the country of two million people and an average monthly salary of just 350 euros ($480), ordinary Macedonians remain gloomy about their prospects.
- Weak opposition -
The state has remained the main employer in the Macedonia, an EU candidate since 2005.
"We have heard all promises, mostly empty ones, but at least with Gruevski there are no surprises," said 43-year-old unemployed teacher Valentina Mangovska.
"The elections will confirm the mandate of the outgoing government that could continue talks with the international community with more authority," analyst Ivica Bocevski told Agence France Presse.
The SDSM, which has been demanding early elections for almost a year, "proved unattractive to voters," Bocevski said.
One of the main tasks for the new government will be to kickstart Macedonia's integration into the EU and NATO, blocked for years over a name-dispute with neighboring Greece.
The opposition says the issue is hampering economic and political development in Macedonia.
Greece has a northern province also called Macedonia, and the two countries have been at loggerheads over the right to use of the name ever since the former Yugoslav republic proclaimed independence in 1991.
The Greeks also accuse Skopje of trying to usurp the heritage of the ancient Macedonians and stake a claim to the heritage of Alexander the Great.
The row has stymied Macedonia's efforts to join both NATO and the EU and mediation attempts by the United Nations have so far been fruitless.
Among parties representing ethnic Albanians, who make up about a quarter of Macedonia's population, the DUI enjoys support of about seven percent.
Its main rival, the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA), hopes to benefit from the DUI row dispute with the ruling party to possible join the government.
Relations between ethnic Albanians and Macedonians have been strained since a seven-month armed conflict in 2001 between government forces and Albanian guerrillas seeking more rights.
The conflict ended with an internationally brokered peace accord in August 2001.
Source: Agence France Presse
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